You Belong in the Room

You got the seat
and immediately doubted it.

Sure they made a mistake.
Everyone else clearly belongs.
You're the one who slipped through.

I want to tell you plainly:
you belong in the room.

You didn't trick your way in.
Someone saw something real.
The doubt you feel isn't evidence —
it's just the discomfort of being new,
and everyone in that room
felt it their first time too.

Belonging isn't a feeling
that arrives before you speak.
It's a decision you make
by speaking anyway.

Ask the question.
Offer the idea.
Take up the space you were given.

The room doesn't need you
to feel certain you deserve it.
It needs what you actually bring.

You're not there by accident.
Act like it.

– Asael Shinder